When asked about Naomi Osaka’s tears at Indian Wells, Rafael Nadal showed empathy for the Japanese. While recalling the duties of the athletes of the circuit.
© AFP
Rafael Nadal in a press conference at the start of the tournament.
Rafael Nadal on Monday expressed his empathy for Naomi Osaka, who broke down in the middle of a match in Indian Wells after being insulted by a spectatorwhile believing that players should be “prepared” to deal with this type of behavior.
“The easy answer for me would be to say, ‘I feel bad about what happened, this should never happen’,” the Spaniard said after his third-round victory in the California tournament. facing Dan Evans, and questioned about the events that took place on Saturday. But, “in the real world”, it happens that spectators launch insults or are hostile, continued the winner of 21 Grand Slam tournaments: “Even if it is terrible to hear, we should be prepared for that, no ?”
“Naomi, you suck!”
Six months after her tears of distress in front of the press at the US Open and nine months after her withdrawal from Roland-Garros, where she had refused to answer questions from the media, Naomi Osaka broke down again on Saturday. In the middle of the match, then after her elimination in the 2nd round in Indian Wells, the Japanese cried, hurt by an insult uttered in the public – “Naomi, you suck!”
Naomi Osaka stayed back and waited for Veronika to finish her interview to address the crowd #IndianWells https://t.co/YMyEL2ITbH pic.twitter.com/f0laMSw5nk
— NoFirstName claycourtdal (@SMSTNS) March 13, 2022
The Japanese could not repress a few tears, after complaining about this behavior to the officials. The player, plagued by frequent anxiety problems, then, completely unexpectedly, agreed to speak on the court after her defeat, a visibly trying exercise for her, which brought new tears to her cheeks. .
“In life, nothing is perfect, right? We have to be ready to face adversity.”
“We have to know how to resist this type of problem, which happens when we are facing an audience, continued Nadal. I understand that Naomi has suffered greatly from her mental health concerns. All I wish for him is to get over it,” he added. “But in life, nothing is perfect, right? We have to be ready to face adversity,” he concluded.
Before Nadal, Andy Murray had made similar comments after his elimination at Indian Wells. “Obviously, I’m sorry for Naomi, it’s clear that it upsets her enormously,” said the former world No.1. But it’s something that has always been part of the sport. So you have to be ready for that in a certain way, and be able to endure it because it happens frequently in all sports, ”he also judged.
Andy’s take on the Osaka situation ????
(I felt that these words out of context could be misinterpreted, especially just in writing) pic.twitter.com/p2xawAq2zh
— 6e Set (@6e_set) March 14, 2022